CO2 Fertilization

Number of papers: 2

Environmental Drivers of Agricultural Productivity Growth: CO₂ Fertilization of US Field Crops — National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, 2023; Taylor & Schlenker

“We consistently find a large CO₂ fertilization effect: a 1 ppm increase in CO₂ equates to a 0.4%, 0.6%, 1% yield increase for corn, soybeans, and wheat, respectively. In a thought exercise, we apply the CO₂ fertilization effect we estimated in our sample from 2015–2021 backwards to 1940, and, assuming no other limiting factors, find that CO₂ was the dominant driver of yield growth — with implications for estimates of future climate change damages.”

The global greening continues despite increased drought stress since 2000 — Global Ecology and Conservation, 2024; Chen et al.

Greening is accelerating.